Charlotte Business Succession Planning Lawyers

It often takes years of hard work to build up a successful business. Many business owners are understandably extremely busy trying to manage their company and increase profit, making it difficult to set aside the time to engage in estate planning. Nonetheless, business succession planning is extremely important because your family’s future is directly tied to the success of your business after you are gone. Knowing what will happen to your business if you become incapacitated or pass away will give you peace of mind and help your business stay afloat.

If you own a business and you are concerned about what will happen to it when you are gone, Arnold & Smith, PLLC is here to help. Our estate planning lawyers strive to assist business owners and managers to create strong business succession plans that serve their bottom line and meet their personal goals. Contact our estate planning lawyers today to schedule your initial consultation at our Charlotte, Mooresville, or Monroe office.

Many of us assume that we will keep going on and working hard for years or decades to come. It can be difficult to think about our own mortality and consider what will happen to our businesses when we are gone, especially after putting so much hard work into making it thrive. Business succession planning can help you determine the future of your business that you have worked so hard to create.

By creating a strong business succession plan, you will also help the person who will take control of your business. Your business succession plan will give them the legal and practical authority to make business decisions and keep your company running as smoothly as possible. Business succession planning is beneficial for shareholders as well as employees, both of whom have an interest in the company’s success.

Whether you are a sole proprietor, a member of an LLC, or your company is a corporation, you can benefit from business succession planning. The first step is to hire an attorney who will review your goals and your financial situation to develop a business succession plan tailored to your needs. 

We use our experience and legal skills to make sure that your interests and rights are protected throughout the process. In many cases, business owners are rightfully focused on immediate issues, including the success of their business. Our law firm takes a more broad look at your business and personal estate to develop an estate plan that works for you.

Every business succession plan is unique and depends on the goals and financial situation of the business. However, there are several questions that all business owners need to address when formulating their business succession plans, including the following:

• The goals of the business owner
• The goals of the stakeholders, which could include non-family insiders, managers, employees, and family members if the business is family-owned
• Asset protection
• Selecting the future owner of the business after your death
• Identifying who you would like to manage your company
• The fair market value of the company and any estate or income tax consequences
• Any buy-sell agreements that currently exist with business partners
• Whether the business owner is interested in selling the business

Business succession planning is not only to prepare for the business owner’s death or incapacity. Instead, business succession planning can help a business owner phase out the time spent in the office in order to retire. Stepping away from a business that you have worked years to build can be extremely difficult. By working with an attorney, you can create a business succession plan that will help you spend less time at your business and more time enjoying retirement. This process will allow you to appoint someone or multiple people to manage the day-to-day affairs of your company while protecting your business assets.

The best way to get your questions answered is to speak with a lawyer. At Arnold & Smith, PLLC, we offer potential new clients an initial consultation so they can get their questions answered and learn how we can help them create a business succession plan, as well as an overall estate plan. Contact us today to schedule your initial consultation at our Charlotte, Mooresville, or Monroe office.